Kayak Fishing Fever Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Kayak fishing is the fastest growing sector of kayaking around the world with hundreds of people taking up the sport every month. I often trail a hand line behind my kayak which could perhaps be regarded as 'entry level' for kayak fishing. At the other end of the spectrum, fishermen go out on sit-on-top kayaks with electronic fish finders, up to 4 or 5 rods, a stash of lures & a cool box for bait.

I filmed some of these fishermen for the first time in "This is the Sea 4". There's an 8 minute feature which mainly follows Jim Sammons, who has been kayak fishing in San Diego for 20 years and who runs kayak fishing trips there and in Baja. But there is a a catch - Jim has to launch through 3 foot surf before he can even cast a line!

I recently sent a review copy of "This is the Sea 4" to Terry Jackson from the UK website 'Kayak Fishing North Wales'. Terry described the DVD to me as 'inspiration in a box', which I like a lot!! You can read his review here, or enter the competition he has set up to win a signed copy of the DVD.

Bardsey island turkeys Wednesday, December 10, 2008

On Saturday, Barry and I paddled to Bardsey island at the end of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. It's one of our favourite places to paddle and we've got to know the only family who live there all year round. Steve, Joanna, Rachel and Ben Porter have spent just over a year as the resident farmers - during the summer the other few houses are occupied by local lobster fishermen, RPSB bird wardens, National Trust representatives, a resident artist and many visitors. In the winter, it's just them, cattle, sheep, turkeys, ducks, seals and birds. The local lobster fisherman is employed by the post office to deliver their mail by boat once a week, but in the Winter there are often 3 week stretches when it's too stormy to get out to the island. It's only a couple of kilometres from the mainland but the tide flies through the sound at up to 6 knots and it can be really rough. That's why the Welsh name for the island is Ynys Enlli - island in the currents.

We try to visit Bardsey at least every couple of months and we are always given a warm welcome, a cup of tea and often a piece of home made cake! In return we take out some fresh fruit, a weekend newspaper and some other treats. We've been talking about staying overnight for months and finally we spend a lovely evening with the Porters, eating local beef, chatting and going for a star-lit evening walk. Slightly strangely, we also watched the X-factor on telly!!! The next morning we watched the Porters catch some of their turkeys for Christmas gifts. If we get a chance to go back to Bardsey before Christmas then I'm going to bring one of the poor turkeys back in my kayak and have a Bardsey free range turkey for Christmas dinner. At least it will have had a happy life!

NZ premiere and FREE WORLDWIDE POSTAGE Wednesday, December 03, 2008

The New Zealand premiere of "This is the Sea 4" was a great success last week. Thanks a lot to Sarah Wilson from Adventure Coaching for organizing the event at the Spectrum Theatre in Wellington. I couldn't be there ( in case I was tempted to keep kayaking around the North island!) but Sarah tells me that 100 eager kayakers and adventurers turned up. They "broke the rules" and watched the first part of the premiere disk but instead of watching the 25minute version of the NZ film that's on that disc, they watched the whole 48 minute film! Sarah's verdict, "It is winna mate!" The premiere also raised around $500 for a project that supports teenagers learning through adventure - called Project K.

There's one more premiere planned in Toronto this Saturday on 6th December, organised by the Complete Paddler and Gerald Croney. If anyone else is interested in organising a premiere event then please get in touch - I can provide an hour long version of the DVD.

With over 2 and a half hours of award-winning films, "This is the Sea 4" makes a great Christmas gift!. If you've already got it then there are 3 previous DVDs in stock for anyone who has any 'gaps in their collection' that need filling!

Remember that if you buy from our on-line store then SHIPPING IS FREE TO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
Orders are usually posted within 24 hours, and often go the same day.

(in the UK/ Europe/Australia/Asia store, there is a small postage charge for buying multiple DVDs, but postage is free for single DVDs. In the USA/ Canada store all shipping is free)